The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely sophisticated devices, and computer systems may be found in many different settings. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware, such as semiconductors and circuit boards, and software, also known as computer programs. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer hardware higher, more sophisticated and complex computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
One way that computers have become more complex and powerful has been by the connection of computers via networks. By connecting to a network, one computer, often called a client, may access information on various other computers, often called servers. The servers may provide information in a variety of formats, which causes the client difficulty in interpreting information. For example, one supplier of telephone information may supply records including a name field, a telephone number field, and an email address field. Another supplier of telephone information may supply records including a name field, and street address field, and a telephone number field. Thus, although both suppliers provide telephone information, they provide records with some common fields, some different fields, and the fields may be ordered differently within the records. This inconsistent nature of the different records causes the client difficulty in analyzing and interpreting the retrieved information.
Without a better way to organize information retrieved from different information suppliers, users will not be able to take advantage of the full power of computers.